Modern day "Grapes Of Wrath"

Re: Modern day "Grapes Of Wrath"

Sad story indeed. Seems like these people where trying to get themselves back on their feet, only to get kicked when they are down.

Re: Modern day "Grapes Of Wrath"

Thu Nov 29, 2012 8:31 pm

Yes, not the best plan. When the smoke clears from this event, the cost of a rental car or van for the overflow of passengers the adult daughter could have driven will be microscopic.

Obviously the family did not have the means to aquire an additional vehicle.

They were trying to stay off the welfare roll by finding work in another state. Now the folks in Indiana will be paying their way for a while.

If Lazyuniondriver had made the traffic stop, the following would have happened:

Since this would have been up to my discretion, I would have piled the passenger overflow into my cruiser, escorted the truck to the Flying J which would have provided adequate shelter, then demanded they make better arrangements. I may have even bought the family a meal if I had enough on me.

Nobody would have been cited, nobody would have gone to jail, no intervention with social services needed.

This didn't have to go down the way it did. I hope whoever made the traffic stop can live with himself. Of course, driver behavior and attitude may have played into it.

Re: Modern day "Grapes Of Wrath"

Thu Nov 29, 2012 9:19 pm

The link to this story has change quite a bit since we first read and commented on it.

Originally the media reported a down and out family with too many passengers for the cab of their truck, moving from the Keystone to Cali.

An adult daughter was reported to be with the children in the back with at least one cell phone for communication with her dad, the driver of the truck.

I went back to the article to fwd it to a friend in law enforcement and the story connected to the same link has changed to something like a crack hoe and pimp moving their meth lab to a neighborhood near you with gas and pet waste they intend on throwing in your yard.

The gas? Maybe in the riding mower. The pet waste? Maybe they grabbed a litter box for the cat. Who knows.

My original comment and I assume Raymond's were based on the original story with far less details, not that I would have done anything much different if I had stopped them.